Innovative Argentina: 6,000 projects and many resources

With a very low profile, the economist Fernando Peirano, head of the National Agency for Science and Technology Promotion, gets millions of dollars from international organizations, such as the IDB, the World Bank and the former CAF, with long-term loans, several years of grace and insignificant rates, for an industry where Argentina has the best credentials: scientific and technological innovation. The system, in turn, generates its own funds as businesses that grow and make profits are expected to repay part of the aid received. This is the case of Mercado libre, which repaid $ 1,000 million, which is reinvested in new projects.

One of these projects is the development of the national Covid vaccine, now in the first phase of human testing in San Juan and Mendoza with 84 volunteers. The new stages are more complex and include larger groups. They have allocated $ 72 million in this phase. In food, they are implementing the replacement of chemical ingredients with natural ones in line with the new law on front labeling.

Peirano says they are very selective with external expert committees. To the point of rejecting 47% of the projects that were presented to him last year. The focus is on health, food and renewable energy. The agency highlights several examples of rapid response to the pandemic, from the Tecme factory in Cordoba, which was quickly converted to produce nanotechnology respirators or masks, and the various PCR tests developed in the country. Another is equine serum, which was used in more familiar provinces to gain immunity. One of these cases, little known, is that of a Brandsen company that is dedicated to tampons and that has adapted its matrix and with researchers from the University of La Plata has managed to produce long and flexible tampons that do not cause injury to the Covid tests with demanding international standards. Until now they were produced by only two countries in the world, Italy and the United States: today they are exported to Chile.

Santiago Carlucci is the president of the Transportistas Unidos de Argentina. He has only one truck whose management usually alternates with a driver. And this is how the members of that body expresses that they claim to suffer from the shortage and speculation with diesel that is causing problems in the supply chain and greater price increases. So he says that at the stations they load up after long lines with 40 liters, which is enough for a large truck to travel just 100 kilometers. Excessive prices are the order of the day as it is one thing that the stationers put up on the bill and another is what they charge if they want fuel. The cards have been canceled and a trip from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, which used to be done in one day, now takes a week. He believes that the YPF’s belated measure of double charging vehicles with foreign patents is not even a patch.

The duo Nicolás Pino and Marcos Pereda are born, with only one year at the helm of the Rural Society he faces another intern in the entity. This is a list promoted by former president Enrique Crotto who found a loophole in the statutes. It happens shortly before the inauguration, next July, of the exhibition postponed to Palermo, which will have two acts. One, on July 21, new, which will be an exclusive party for members. The other, the official ceremony. Although still missing, Minister Julián Domínguez confirmed their assistance. They doubt that Alberto Fernández will participate.

Thermomix is ​​a food processor produced by the German company Vorwerk in the city of Wupppertal. Read the recipe and you can chop, mix, knead, simmer, boil, and steam. The truth is that it is looking to position itself in Argentina and has just invested $ 180,000 just to renovate what will be its largest store in Latin America: it occupies the entire ground floor of the nearly empty We Work building in Vicente Lopez.

The always active Juan José Campanella, Oscar winner For the secret of your eyes, through his company 100 Bares Producciones, he obtained a syndicated loan in 2018 with the participation of Banco Ciudad and Banco Nación in equal shares. The goal: to recover the Politeama theater. Campanella contributed with the original capital and was financed for two thirds (400 million dollars). The theater, with 700 seats, has been completely refurbished. The president of the municipality, Guillermo Laje, said he had also renovated the new building of the famous Odeón theater. The Politeama is located on Avenida Corrientes, almost on the corner of the Paraná and was inaugurated in 1879, with Shakespeare’s Othello. It was finally demolished in 1958 and its cause sparked so much controversy that it led to the enactment of a national law which stipulates that where a theater previously existed, the new building must contain another theater, with at least 90% of the capacity of the theater. original.